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Case Mod - In Progress Level Twelve

Discussion in 'Project Logs' started by slipperyskip, 4 Nov 2010.

  1. Wicked_Sludge

    Wicked_Sludge My eyes! The goggles do nothing!

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    for shame....:nono:
     
  2. Nealieboyee

    Nealieboyee Packaging Master!

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    @ chiller
    When i read a project log, i like to see ONE project. Couldn't you have made your own thread, mate? I'm sure you wouldn't like it if someone cut into your thread with pics of their own build.
     
  3. chromespyder

    chromespyder ModANoob

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    :duh: oh dear.

    Great Mod, keep up the good work!
     
  4. Boddaker

    Boddaker Still hangin around

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    Wow, you finally get the right case, and you end up gutting the whole thing. Didn't know you were even allowed to do that lol. Glad to see you are finally off and running. :thumb:
     
  5. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    Spent the weekend in distant cities in search of materials and supplies. With knives sharpened and saw blades renewed I'll have some substantive updates soon. This other nonsense I'm going to ignore because it is just a distraction. Peace.

    Welcome. Hopefully I can whip up something using the collection. A few more surprises are coming.

    I decided to go with the "just use lousy photos" method of copyright enforcement. :hehe:

    I heard you were threatening to do an Attila-style HTPC build . That will be epic for sure.

    LOL...maybe so. Thanks

    Thanks. Yes I have plans but they are just tumbling around in my head. An OCD planners nightmare.


    A little bit. :hehe:

    Cool. Welcome aboard. :thumb:

    OK. Thanks!

    It's been a nightmare but I seem to attract that sort of thing. I don't know what the rules are. The only thing I have asked so far is "Can I replace any equipment?". The answer was YES as long as I used an Intel processor.

    I had to give you guys a three week head start. Seems only fair. :D
     
  6. jprykov

    jprykov What's a Dremel?

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    nice! im stalking this thread keep up the good work and more pics! :)

    @chiller: tsk tsk
     
  7. k.3nny

    k.3nny Minimodder

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    Lol this site got ALLOT of mitx/matx builds, Niiiice :D

    Nice work so far, i will be watching this 1 :D
     
  8. Yariko

    Yariko What's a Dremel?

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    Looking gooooood :) Just makes me want to build a mITX-rig too. :thumb:
     
  9. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    I've had a "planets aligned" moment. Last year I was fortunate enough to win a few prizes from Cooler Master including a Cosmos Black Edition, A V10 HSF and a 1100W PSU. I had no idea what I was going to do with these things until the 980X dropped into my lap. I have to keep my mind from wandering off to this next project instead of keeping to the task at hand.

    Thanks! Drawing in lurkers is a good sign for a project. I hope it stays stalkable. :thumb:

    Thanks! Always new and different stuff here at BT. It's an open-minded atmosphere kind of thing IMO.

    Thank you Yariko. Getting the most power from the smallest package is challenging...and fun. Keeps things fresh.

    [​IMG]
    Two of the boards I cut are identical

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    They form the roof of the main box. There will be two roofs, one is hidden with fan holes drilled into it and the other is the actual decorative top panel. The space formed between them is a channel directing hot exhaust air out the back. At least that's the idea.

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    The bottom of the main box will have to support the weight of the actual case. I cut these 1/2" square boards and assembled them to form the floor. The large gaping hole in the center will be the vent inlet. The 1/2" boards will give me enough meat to drive wood screws into them at intervals.

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    The face of the support box and a piece of teak veneer cut to fit.

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    Contact cement drying on the support box board and the back of the sheet of veneer. Odd that you have to dry it for 20 minutes or so before joining the two.

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    Welcome back to Cooking with Jeffrey. Before we roll out the cookie dough lets apply 25 lbs of pressure evenly to the surface using a kitchen roller and piece of wax paper to protect the surface.

    Thanks for looking. Today's question is...Which is faster? A 6Gb/s SATA hard drive on an internal 3Gb/s SATA connector or the same hard drive in an external USB 3.0 enclosure?
     
  10. jj_sky5000

    jj_sky5000 Minimodder

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    looking good so far, I have a couple of projects to start for 2011 as well, But first we must get through this one!!!!

    Also i am jealous your somewhere warm, we had snow flakes last week.
     
  11. k.3nny

    k.3nny Minimodder

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    Pro cooking over there, hahaha.

    Nice to see that u use random materials and tools.
     
  12. Jipa

    Jipa Avoiding the "I guess.." since 2004

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    Unless it's a super fast SSD, neither connection is going to bottleneck the transfer speed. In general internal is a safer bet, so S-ATA II it is.

    Good work as always, your wood work really is something else.. Makes me feel ashamed I posted pictures of my wooden blastah :lol:
     
  13. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    Thanks. Bright and sunny here. Painting weather...finally.

    Thanks k.3nny! :thumb:

    The topic is coming soon so I'm just doing my homework. Thanks Jipa!

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    New toys. This is a USB 3.0 external HDD enclosure. Aluminum with a fan. Nice. Too bad though...

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    'Cause this is all I bought it for. The USB controller and power board. The hard drive is the stock 640GB unit standing in until I get my new drive.

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    Another USB 3.0 hub? Yup, except this one is a bay unit instead of a separate enclosure type.

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    Bought this one mainly because it gives the option to use SATA or Molex power.

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    These will end up being my front-mounted USB 3.0 ports which I understand is still kinda rare.

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    Added a few more pieces to my floor structure to fill it out to where I need it. Next to it is a sheet of 1/32" aircraft-grade plywood that will be cut and glued across the floor. This will add some serious strength and make sliding the case in and out much smoother.

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    Some dry fit action. Can't wait to trace out he vent opening and fire up the Dremel.

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    Tilted photo to help with orientation. Below you can just see the air inlet and the outlet is the box opening at the top.

    Thanks for looking!.
     
  14. murtoz

    murtoz Busy procrastinating

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    Wow. As usual. Looking forward to seeing this develop!
     
  15. TheGreatSatan

    TheGreatSatan Member for 17 years!

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    Another amazing mod-in-progress by skip!
     
  16. deathstarchris

    deathstarchris What's a Dremel?

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  17. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    Hey Murtoz! Glad to have you aboard.

    Just keeping the body count up. :thumb: This is number 29. What are you up to Ken? 40?

    Cool! Thanks Chris. Your Max PC Hulk project is one of my all-time favorites.

    [​IMG]
    LOL. I forgot that the K-series processors don't come with a stock HSF. Just as well. I'm growing a nice collection of discarded units as I suspect many of you are too. Case top looks kinda warped but that is an optical illusion.

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    Unlocked because I'm just as likely to underclock as overclock. I like the flexibility to dial in the power draw in case I really screwed up my calculations. I dunno. Makes sense to me.

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    Photo of a hard drive Oooh..Ahhh. I needed 6Gb/s speed in a capacity that supported the title Storage Drive. This is a 2TB Seagate Barracuda XT.

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    Plextor external USB DVD burner. I suspect things are not going to go well for the plastic case.

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    I'm not absolutely sure my cooling system will work. To offset this uncertainty I'll use a ringer. If you have to move mass quantities of air and don't care about noise then this 92mm Delta FFB0912SH will do the trick. Matched up to a Zalman Fan Mate, this industrial-grade fan gives me the flexibility to dial-in the air-flow requirements of the completed system. It is not likely the final solution but will instead help me determine which fan(s) I should use.

    [​IMG]
    Playing around with the contents of the support box. USB 3.0 from the Gigabyte board goes into the input hub. The input hub distributes the USB 3.0 goodness to the front-mounted hub and the storage drive. The optical drive is USB 2.0. I couldn't come up with a USB 3.0 solution for it but that is OK. This way I can illustrate the backward compatabilty. I have left out the power cables in this photo because they are messy and not finalized yet.

    [​IMG]
    Some real work getting done. As usual (and planned) I cut my boards too long and wide. I then hand mill them down by rigging stuff like this up. All the box sides are clamped together and run across taped down 60-grit sandpaper.

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    Cutting the fan hole by hand. I don't know why. I enjoy the tactile feedback I get from spinning the saw back and forth. Hmmm...

    As always, thanks for looking.
     
  18. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    [​IMG]
    Last of the major upgrade items. 8GB (2 x 4GB) Crucial DDR3-1333

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    I like this photo.

    Thanks for looking.
     
  19. Gtek

    Gtek Doesn't raise the bar; he IS the bar.

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    Nice progress, and wise memory choise (bacause of cpu cooler) :thumb:
     
  20. slipperyskip

    slipperyskip Member

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    Thanks. Yeah, I did my homework.

    [​IMG]
    I cheated, I bought some 3/4" 13-ply plywood from my supplier, Magnum Wood of Gainesville, Florida and had them cut it up for me. They had just replaced the blade in their table saw and I suddenly remembered how difficult it was to hand cut 3/4" plywood. These two pieces will be stacked to form the bottom of the support box (See last two photos). The lower portion of the support box is the most stressed section of this build.

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    "Is he modding al fresco?", "Yeah, such a show-off. Let's go pretend to be dinosaurs."

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    The base of Level Twelve in comparison to Level Eleven. Everything is doubled.

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    Finally, some clamp sculpture. This is the power plug for the support box getting a wood interface.

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    Wait. That's just a regular 4-pin Molex connector pinched between some layers of wood. The power supply I'll be using looks like an external laptop power brick but instead has a Molex connector. It supplies both 12 and 5V just like any other Molex power connector. I considered using a Pico PSU rigged to work like a bench test supply but I like the idea that I can remove a heat producing component from the box.

    [​IMG]
    All of the support box components will get wood interfaces. Here are some brass stand-offs screwed into wood planks at appropriate locations.

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    The In and Out hubs being interfaced.

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    To secure the hub's locations but still make them removable I created these simple sliding brackets.

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    The optical drive gets a cradle built for it.

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    Dry fitting the pieces that make up the back of the support box. The surface will get faced with 1/32" plywood to provide additional strength and coverage especially around the hub opening. The final layer will be Teak veneer.

    [​IMG]
    Yes, the optical drive will face the rear of the computer demonstrating my basic distain for ODs and how little I actually use them. Front facing USB 3.0 ports Cheesecake!

    Thanks for looking!
     

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